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Log Entry Day #5 – September 11, 2010 – Boat Day

Happy Patriot Day everyday!

Cap’n Ron quote – “So far our adventure has been sanding, chipping and painting.”

Today was boat day. I did some planned work on Count’s Clear. The first and foremost thing was I installed a secondary bilge pump.  Will sleep a lot easier now just knowing I can pump 2,500 gallons per hour if the need arises.

And there is good news on the leak front. The leak has subsided to the point that the bilge pump \pumps water out for only about 10 seconds now. Heck I can’t even see water in the bilge now without rocking the boat back and forth.  We shall call this a delayed repair…. The boat just didn’t know the leak was supposed to be fixed.

New neighbor tonight. It is a 40’ trawler called “BLEU R BUDGET.” Cute name. Haven’t met them yet.

Tomorrow the plan is to hike to the one room schoolhouse and other places on the island.

It is raining now.

Don, I will take some dive pictures for you. The San Juans have some of the besty diving in the world. Way more color and wildlife to see. The only draw back is the water temp. It is a toasty 54.7 degrees right now. Thank goodness for that! At 54.2 degrees I don’t dive!  Just kidding.

Fair winds and following seas,,,,,

Wayne

Moved from Sucia to Reid Harbor, on Stuart Island today. No internet connection but the cell phone works. All is well. I am on another State of Washington dock. I am the only one on the dock so I have the generator sitting on the dock and I am watching a movie.

Short log entry. Quote for Captain Ron – " If we get lost we’ll just pull in somewhere and ask directions."

Update Day #3 – (Done on Day #4, Now I am feeling a little more wordy!) – After saying farewell to Fair Dinkum’s Renee and Roger, my pier-mates for the evening, I Left Fossil Bay, Sucia Island, at 1:02 PM local time, towing “Re-Count.” Re-Count is what I have named the dinghy. After entering the main body of water I tried accelerating. Re-Count was not doing well. I tried different configurations: Motor on; Motor off; short tether; long tether; tether tide off the side, etc.  The good news is Re-Count can actually ride a steep wake wave at about 80 – 85 degree angle  without tipping over and capsizing. This is good to know knowing my sense of adventure.

Anyway, I motored through Fox Cove on the southwest side of Sucia to see what it was like. And just as the books said, you wouldn’t want to be there with a strong West wind. After leaving Fox Cove, I couldn’t stand the dinghy anymore so I pulled her in and set her on the transom and tied her off on her davits. This is the best way to haul Re-Count, however she is a ‘heavy bottomed’ girl and is a lot of weight on the stern, pitching the bow up. Even with trim tabs and moving all the scuba great fo’ward, Count’s Clear still rides a little nose high…but then that’s her personality anyway. After all, she was sleeping with 40, 50 and 60 footers for the last couple of nights she must think her exhaust doesn’t stink!

I steered a course for Point Hammond on Waldron Island. We were taking a good breeze right on the nose and I wanted to tuck in behind the island for protection and cruise southwest down Presidents Channel. No whales or dolphins but a lot of seals swimming around.  After passing Point Disney, I steered a course for White Rock. This is one of my dive sites that I will dive this week and I wanted to check out anchorage possibilities, etc. I was actually thinking of taking the dinghy from Reid Harbor to White Rock….but that ain’t happening. Way to much current and way to much wind. Even on a good day, if the wind changed while I was diving…heck I would be blown into Canada before I knew it.

Crossed over to Flattop Island and passed it to the west. The chart said “TIDERIPS” in two different areas. Ever wonder what a tide rip is? Well, I wondered so I slowed down to about 6 knots. You hit one of these tide rips and the boat will be turn 30 – 90 degrees any one direction or another.  I experimented with this and held the tide corrected course and the boat would turn back the other way as you would exit the rip…but never corrected you back to the original heading of course.

Once on the north side of Spieden Island, I proceeded west up the New Channel. Speiden Island is privately owned and the owners (back in 1969) made it a hunting preserve and imported Sitka Deer and Asian fallow deer and many species of birds. As time went on, and the other nearby island got populated, shooting became problematic so that was shut down but the game remained. I couldn’t see any deer or big horn sheep on Spieden but then it was still mid afternoon.  More info on the island  here:

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19940619&slug=1916258

I went into Roche Harbor for supplies. Since I have enough food on board, SUPPLIES in this case equals BEER. Fresh water also since I took a shower the night before and used up the remaining water supply. Roche Harbor is a quaint little place. The marina staff were very pleasant and nice. There were hundreds of boats there, including mega-yachts that made Count’s Clear look like a row boat. I filthy display of wealth is all I can say.

After leaving Roche Harbor I motored back across Spieden Channel and nestled into Reid Harbor.  Which is where I will spend the weekend exploring the island….  

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Island_(Washington)>

Captain Ron quote – “Always stand clear of the ladder boss!”

Remained on Sucia Island today. Will probably stay here one more night. I have to check weather tides and currents for probable dive sites.

Got up this morning and Josie wanted off the boat BAD. So we left. More than she bargained for I’d say. We hiked from Fossil Bay to South and North Shallow  Bay (steep hikes) and then over to Echo Bay. While on the north side of Sucia, the cell phone was on International roaming. I quickly turned it off.

When returning, I entered the US Sprint service area so I was uploading pictures and texting…while walking. You think texting and driving is bad… I missed the path back to the boat and kept on going down this trail. Rephrase – up this trail. I am like “DAMN!”  I don’t remember this. Then I came to this building. A small stone thing with no windows or doors. I thought, “Hmmm, no windows or doors. This must be a cistern.”  Now I know I am on the wrong path because I didn’t pass this on the way in. I break out of the trees and I can see COUNTSCLEAR directly across from me. Whoops. So back Josie and I go. I thought I was going to have to carry her. She was pooped. Normally this snooty hound wont even think of drinking out of a puddle. Well today was Puddle Day for the hound.

After resting back at the boat, I took the dinghy (A 9’ rigid hull inflatable with a 7hp motor) for a spin. I explored Fossil Bay and then jumped out into the sound and crossed into Echo Bay. I circumnavigated (sounds cool doesn’t it?) South Finger Island…which is private…but it is for sale…www.southfingerisland.com). Then I headed back to Fossil Bay.

On the way back I ran into one hellicious  (is this a word? Use  “Helluva” if it isn’t!) current. At a little more than  half throttle I was able to steer but I was actually going backwards. I thought…Dinner is now officially on hold. Gassed her up a little and we were able to make headway.

BBQ’d another rib-eye…and Josie got the bone. The grill was still super hot so I slapped on a chicken thigh..slathered on the BBQ sauce ( SWEETBABYRAYS…YUM-yum) so lunch is already cooked…which by the way is my crab bait…not lunch!

 I then took a much needed shower and then mingled and hob knobed with the “common folk” on the pier. They cruised in on 50’ and 60’ yachts and were drinking expensive wines and champagne. I covered my boat with a $20 tarp (in case of rain) and stepped out to join them with not one. Not Two. But THREECANS of Coors Light. That’s right by golly.  I was teasing them  though. I told them that before they left I’d bet they never thought they’d be moored next to a “Clampet Camper!” [Let me tell you the story about a man named Jed. Poor mountaineer, barely keep the family fed ….] We swapped dive stories and motorcycles ride routes…we had a blast!

 An old sailor adage….“Red sky at night, Sailors delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning.” Well take a look at the photos folks. I will print and frame this one.

Until tomorrow….Fair winds and following seas.

Cap’n Wayne

PS:  I am getting emails with lot’s of questions…I am responding as fast as I can…but please feel free to ask!

Quote from Captain Ron – “Want some help cleaning up this water boss?” No, It’s a boat, it will soak in.!" -- Left Cap Sante Harbor, Anacortes, WA. around 1:30-ish. I paid another $55 to launch the boat….and after sitting tied to the pier for another hour or so I check the bilge bay. It wasn’t dry. Hmmm.So, the dang thing still leaks…but it is leaking a lot slower now. Decision time. Fact #1…slow leak. Fact #2 – fuel tank is half empy….Thought process…Fuel is lighter than water…therefore by filling the tanks make me more buoyant. Time for a Mark Twain quote…“Sail away from safe harbor….Dream. Sink. Swim” Well something like that.

Sorry for the slow typing…I am eating my Rib Eye steak cooked on old fashioned charcoal…which is better than new fashion charcoal. Any way, gotta hurry up and finish the steak cause Josie is dying for the BIGDAWG bone.

Current Position – 48 45.213 N 122 53.067W – Sucia Islands. One of the northern most island of the San Juan archipelago. Roughly 35 cruising miles north of Anacortes. Weather – Clody with small patches of blue seeping through – Wind – Dead Calm. Seas – picture a high lake. Like glass and reflecting all the trees and cliffs on the shore. More later all…. Love, hugs and kisses…and a hand shake for Karpati…it’s a NAVYTHANG!!!